


tenderly, i've already fallen

by waywardfacegarden



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Hasegawa Langa In Love, I wrote this instead of my economy essay, Missing Scene, Pining Hasegawa Langa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waywardfacegarden/pseuds/waywardfacegarden
Summary: Langa thinks about the question his mom asks him, before going up to see and talk to Reki.Kind of a "missing scene" in episode 8.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, implied
Comments: 10
Kudos: 118





	tenderly, i've already fallen

**Author's Note:**

> listen, i wrote this in like an hour and so in my phone. did i write this just because i can't stop thinking about "langa's confession"? yeah. did i write this instead of my economy essay? yeah. honestly, tho, idk why i wrote this LOL but i had to let it out. it's just me rambling a bit and trying to put kind-of langa's feelings into words? gah.
> 
> english is not my first language and this is un-beta!! sorry for any mistakes you may find here.
> 
> enjoy!!!

_"You like this person, right?"_

Langa blinks at the ceiling of his room, lying stomach up in his bed, and white and blue stare mockingly back at him.

He closes his eyes, puts an arm over his eyelids and sighs.

He can still hear his mom's voice echoing at the back of his head, can still feel the warmth flooding his cheeks, can still feel the drop of sweat rolling, accusingly and very noticeable, down the side of his face.

When asked, he hesitated; of course he did. He wasn't expecting the question, not... about Reki.

There's also the fact that he just... never _stopped_ to ponder about it before. Never stopped to ponder about his feelings; they were just there, comfortably growing in his chest day by day, like a plant that you keep watering until it grows sprouts—now all over Langa's mind, heart and soul.

The thing is, Langa never had a friend before; much less a _best_ friend. He's always been socially awkward around people, and while some of his classmates talked to him nicely back in Canada, the closest person he was with was his dad. He never really regretted it, he was comfortable like that. But then, Reki came into his life.

And Reki Kyan was different. Different to everybody else, different to everyone he has met before. Reki was brave, and smart, and so, so, so amazing. Reki was so painfully kind, always willing to give a hand to those who needed it, always ready to stand up for those who deserved it, always ready to put others first. Reki was always full of big, bright smiles and bubbly laughter that made Langa's chest feel so incredibly light all the time.

Reki was just different. He made Langa happy, just by being himself.

After his dad died, he stopped doing snowboarding; it felt lonely to be up there in the snow without him—it didn't feel right anymore. But he always felt like something was missing; like he _lacked_ something. He came to Japan without complaining because of his mom, and probably because he felt like there wasn't anything left in Canada that really felt like home after his dad passed away. He agreed to move, because he knew it would make his mom happier and maybe because, deep down, it felt somewhat more painful to stay there.

He never imagined he would find what he was missing here. He never imagined he would feel this _alive_ again. He never thought someone would make him feel so happy.

It wasn't like he hated his life before, or like he wasn't happy enough with his mom, it was just that something was, somehow, missing.

Reki came into his life, screaming and smiling, so full of kindness, so full of passion and he showed Langa what was to _feel_ again. To _really_ feel.

Reki jumped and crossed the sky before his very eyes, and Langa _felt_ something. For the very first time after a long time, he felt something ache and come alive inside of him, blossoming in his chest and spreading all the way up to his throat. Reki jumped, wind messing up his red hair, and Langa looked up at him, too amazed to even blink, and felt as his heart beat faster, felt a shoot of adrenaline flooding his system as Reki flied in slow-motion before his eyes. It was _such_ a breathtaking view.

Reki came into his life, with gentle eyes, over-the-top enthusiasm over skating and always so ready to help. He taught Langa patiently, he waited for him, he listened, he was always there.

He was always supportive; and even when Langa kept messing up, Reki would just burst out laughing lightheartedly and then make comments about what he needed to correct—sometimes it was his feet, some others his back, and so on and on--he never once made fun of him.

And it made him so happy. Skating again—though different. Practicing with Reki after classes (and a lot of times late at night in places they were not allowed in), listening to Reki's voice teaching him some tricks at break, doozing off while Reki made changes in the board he was making for him. It made him feel so, so happy; watching skating videos until late, lying besides Reki in Reki's room floor, the light of Reki's phone flickering in Reki's face; eating lunch with Reki on the rooftop, flicking through the videos Reki sent him last night on his phone. It made him so, so happy; working with Reki in the shop, listening to him rant about the new idea he came up with for Langa's skateboard, skating to school and back to Reki's home. It was so nice, the warmth he felt when he was with Reki, the way Reki's passion for skating made him even more excited about all of it.

To him, Reki was nothing less than incredible. To him, Reki was nothing less than _absolutely_ amazing and fascinating. And how could he think any differently? How could _anyone_ not see how mesmeric and awesome Reki was? Reki was crazily smart and talented; he knew what Langa's skateboard needed and why Langa was messing something up just by looking at him, he taught him all the basics and more, making everything so easy for him. To him, Reki was the best skater he knew. To him, Reki was the one who brought him back to life.

And of course, maybe Langa thought about him a lot, but that was normal, right? They grew close, closer than he could ever imagined in such a short amount of time. He had never been this close to someone before, and Reki was everywhere (in Langa's notebook, with Reki's dumb doodles and Reki's messy handwriting with small notes in the margins and the last pages about skating tricks and skating techniques and Langa's skateboard designs and smiley-faces and funny jokes and japanese puns Langa didn't quite understand; in Langa's backpack, with that small keychain Reki gave him weeks ago; in Langa's desk, where his skateboard, made by Reki, is sitting; in Langa's phone, full of videos Reki recorded and selfies with funny faces he took; he was everywhere. _Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere_ ), of course he would think of him.

But then, that happened, and the rain wasn't the gelid thing crawling up his chest, but it was the way Langa's heart was breaking and shattering like glass.

He knew something was off. He _knew_. Reki wasn't acting like always, but it _still_ took him off guard.

Everything about Reki was bright and colorful, and then, suddenly, it wasn't. Reki's face that night was terrible to watch; it broke Langa's heart into a million pieces. He looked confused, bitter, worried, scared... and hurt. Langa's brain kept replaying the scene in his head, over and over and over like a cruel broken record, once he came home, wet and sad and broken and confused and feeling utterly terrible, crashing face down in his bed. He felt the tears prickling and burning in his eyes, all of it coming together in his head, finally realizing that Reki wouldn't be by his side anymore. It was a terrible discovery; it scared him and destroyed him and ate him alive; but the worst part of it all, was realizing that, somehow, _he_ was the one who made Reki do that kind of face. It was such an ugly and broken and desperate expression, nothing like Reki is. He couldn't believe he messed up so big that he made Reki make that kind of face at him.

Langa couldn't stop thinking about it, guilt bubbling up inside him like acid, making his chest feel horribly tight. He didn't know how to fix it.

He wanted to see Reki. He wanted to talk to him. He wanted to see him skate. He wanted to skate with him. He wanted him to be there after Langa finished a race, to have him jump on his side or his back and hug Langa warmly. He wanted to see Reki's smile.

_Reki, Reki, Reki._

_"You like that person, right?"_

Flashes of Reki's sweet toothy grin, Reki's pretty face, Reki's warm and welcoming eyes, Reki's soft, pretty, messy red hair, Reki's elegant, skillful hands, Reki's excited eyes after Langa made some cool trick or managed his first _ollie_ , Reki's soft smile when Langa saved him from falling... glimpses of everything flood his mind. The way Langa's name sounds in Reki's voice, the way his chest feels every time Reki calls him amazing, the way Reki's hair feels in his neck when Reki falls asleep with his head on his shoulder during breaks, the way Reki's fingertips feel against his skin when he's bandaging Langa up, the way Langa feels so full and so overjoyed just because Reki is there and Reki is smiling and they're skating in their own little world.

The way seeing Reki smile and listening to him laugh makes him feel like everything is okay with the world. The way Reki saying his name makes him feel at home. The way, when Reki is looking at him with bright, eager eyes and a full-on grin just after Langa managed to do a new cool move makes Langa want to do something stupid—the way Langa wants to, maybe, just lean in and _do_ _something_ , every time Reki bursts out laughing because Langa stumbles or does a funny face tasting some weird japanese candy Reki gave him, laughing freely and so happy and carefree and so unbelievable pretty. The way Langa feels the strange want to hold Reki's hand every time they do a fist-bump or go to grab something at the same time or their fingers brush.

Everything comes to him like a tsunami crashing down at the coast, like a white avalanche burying everything on its way down a mountain.

Langa blinks up at the ceiling, feeling the heartbeats bump crazily in his chest, so fast that he thinks, for a moment, his chest can rip open.

_"You like that person, right?"_

He sinks his face as it grows impossibly warm in both of his hands, listening Reki's voice swirling in his mind. His heart keeps fluttering tenderly, echoing in the fast pulse of his neck, blood rushing in his ears as something light and chaotic and warm blooms in his ribcage.

He wants to hold Reki's hand; he wants to take it in his and see what it feels like. He wants to rub his thumb over Reki's knuckles and see the way Reki would react. He wants to listen to Reki say his name, and talk for hours happily about skate and whatever he feels like sharing with Langa. He wants to wear Reki's favorite sweatshirt. He even wants to...

_Ugh_.

He groans, deeply embarrassed, blush hot at the base of his neck and all his face; everything coming down at him when he finally fully realizes that he does, in fact, _like_ Reki.

There's not a single doubt about it.

_"I think it's best if you were honest with your feelings."_

_Ah, no way, that's too embarrassing._

And it is. So terribly embarrassing he blushes just thinking about. But he wants to talk to Reki again, he really, really, really wants to talk to Reki again. And his mom is right, he should be honest if wants to fix this up. And if what he needs to do to have Reki be happy again is apologize and be honest with his feelings, then he will.

After all, there's not a single thing he wouldn't do for him.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are very much appreciated!!! if you want to talk to me about reki and langa, please do. i love them so much, they make me so soft. :') (seriously, regardless of what happens in canon in the end, their relationship and bond was one of the purest, softest, warmest i've ever seen. i'm so happy, sk8 makes my saturdays a delight.)
> 
> thank you for reading this mess!!!! <3 love you! remember to drink water, relax and i hope you have a lovely day, beautiful souls!!!!
> 
> also, gOD joe and cherry just kiss alreADY IM DYING OVER HERE. i could cut your sexual tension with a sword jfc


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